Teaching the basics of running via the experiences of a 79-year-old geezer who has been running for 41 years.

August 21, 2010

A busy week with no running but lots of walking

I just arrived home from a week (including travel) in the San Diego, CA area. We were busy 10-13 hours most of the days seeing the attractions in the area, although I did take Friday off to recover from the miles and miles of walking I did every day earlier in the week. I purposefully, didn't run during the week, because I figured my walking would be enough exercise. I slept well during the week, but I was really tired on Friday morning and stayed home while my wife went with our daughter and her family out to see more sights. On Thursday afternoon I had a mild headache, which I interpreted as not handling the sun very well. I tapered off on my walking during the late afternoon and, as I mentioned above, took Friday off from sightseeing.

I think my favorite attraction was the Wild Animal Kingdom. Sea World and the Zoo were nice, but the animals were cooped up in relatively small areas. I liked the openness of the Wild Animal Kingdom, 1700 acres of open space and lots of exotic animals.

While going down, we encountered slow traffic out of Las Vegas, and the trip took about two extra hours because of that. Nothing like driving 15 mph in the HOT California desert to make one tired and sleepy. In have two running friends in the Las Vegas/Central-California desert area, and I now have more appreciation for their having to run in the hot summer sun -- not the humid heat I had in New England, but heat like an oven! Both going and coming back, we stopped at a rest stop in the desert, and, boy, was it hot! During the short walk from my car to the building, all I could think of was getting inside.

The drive back, though, was without any slowdowns, and we were glad to get home.

3 comments:

Thank goodness for treadmills!! Las Vegas is having the hottest summer on record, not due to the daytime Highs, but the temperatures not declining much at night...some say it's because of all the new concrete and asphalt that absorbs the sun like a sponge during the day, but releases heat like charcoal during the night. Normally I'd be starting my road running by the beginning of September, now I predict I won't be road running until the end of September. The beat goes on.